This is one way to get a good price on cement work.
Call the Concrete co. Sales Rep. I speak with Dennis at Superior. They have two or three plant offices listed in the yellow pages and all the dispatchers can hook you up with Dennis. Tell him you want the concrete from his company and that you would like him to look at the job and give you the best priced most appropriate guy for your project with regards to type work quality expectations etc. Tell him whether or not you are comfortable with unlicensed people. I don’t know if he gets involved with small jobs. With things slow he might. Can’t hurt to try.
As a far as the door goes. It might be that the estimator is looking at a per door price for an entire house or even a tract of them. One door in a private house is a different situation. If your neighbor is a contractor or handyman and you have the door and casing on site that might be reasonable hassle to undertake for $200 or less. Besides the hassles of little jobs if you goof it up,say crack one of the mouldings when nailing you have fix it, whatever hassles are involved,at which means working for free or at a loss and facing looking stupid for little reward potential. Imo there is a price that needs to be charged for that. I’d be glad to pay $200 for a door install if I knew someone who I could trust in my house, about whom I was absolutely certain would do what was right no matter what. Nobody else would not get the job.
Some contractors and handymen got greedy, no doubt, during the National home obsession craze that put them in so much demand.It wasn’t because it was HELOC or cash money .It was because people were willing to pay. Just because it is over doesn’t mean the good ones are going to grovel. Not that I am saying that you particularly are looking to make someone do that. Just words to the wise. Be careful not to get an overly desperate person… he will make you pay dearly.